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Following is Samaja’s article on this.

Pragativadi reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

… fisheries and animal resources development minister Golakh Nayak said …, the state would be in a position to export marine products in a large scale to foreign countries.

… he said that the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) will provide the technological assistance to the state government.

The technology would be used by way of implanting satellite radio receivers and Internet facilities in fishing boats and installing electronic display boards at fishing harbours for constant monitoring of vessel movement and fish counting.

The INCOIS is being provided with necessary support by the Space Application Centre, National Remote Sensing Agency, ISRO’s Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre (RSSC) and the Central Fishery Research Institute.

The technology would substantially reduce the search time and human effort in high seas by almost 70 percent, Nayak pointed out.

He said that with the ICT know-how, the marine fishery would use satellite images to identify the prospective areas of fish aggregation.

Later, the information would be given in local language of the respective area thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays during the fishing season.

At the same time, the information would be communicated to about 225 nodes along the entire coastline through telephone and fax, the minister informed.

It may be mentioned here that the maximum sustainable yield of marine fish in the state stands at 1.61 lakh tonne per annum.

Giving further plan details, the minister said that 20 electronic display boards would be set up at fishing harbours in the first phase for which the state government would bear 20 percent of the cost.

This apart, 10 Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) Boards would be installed while the ICT kiosks in these centres would be set up by the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP), Nayak said.

It may be mentioned here that there are two PFZ boards installed at Nuagolabandha ICT Centre in Ganjam district and Balaramgadi ICT centre in Balasore district.

Some of the other topics that were discussed in the assembly include the following:

• Insurance for fishermen
• Monthly electricity generation
• Progress on second Infocity
• Foreign demand for handlooms
• Conservation of ancient documents

Following is Samaja’s report on the above.

Statesman reports on several strategies that were discussed on agriculture and horticulture. Following are some excerpts of that report.

The government has decided to encourage contract farming in cotton and has fixed a target of covering 60,000 hectors under such contract farming during 2007-08. To ensure renumerative price for cotton growers, two additional mandis will be set up in Ganjam and Gajapati districts.

With floriculture having tremendous potential in the state, the government has planned a mandi in Bhubaneswar. Among other proposals discussed today were the steps to encourage organic farming in Phulbani district and aromatic rice in Koraput district. Women Self Help Groups will be encouraged to undertake fishery activities.
Simultaneously, measures to train farmers will be stepped up. Last year, over 23,000 farmers were trained and over the next four years, another 3.32 lakh farmers will be trained, said official sources.

Cashew, mango and banana will be promoted and targets for such plantations were fixed for 2007-08. Primary seed replacement, seed production and other measures in this regard were also discussed.